Porretta was born in
Darien, Connecticut, into a show-biz family: His father,
Frank Porretta, was a famous tenor, opera singer and musical theater actor. His mother, Roberta Palmer Porretta, former Miss Ohio 1956, was a spinto soprano. She returned to school after raising their children and went on to an international opera career after graduating from the
Juilliard School of Music. By the age of 25, Matthew Porretta was already a veteran of Broadway and a student at the
Manhattan School of Music. In 1990 he broke into television with recurring roles on shows like
Wings and
Beverly Hills, 90210. His first major movie role came in 1993 when he portrayed
Will Scarlet O'Hara in
Mel Brooks' spoof
Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Four years later, Porretta starred as
Robin Hood in the first two seasons of
The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Since 1997, he has been starring in independent movies, commercials and TV shows. His debut role on stage was
Marius Pontmercy during the national tour of
Les Misérables, between 1989 and 1994. In 1994, he was part of the original Broadway cast of
Stephen Sondheim's
Passion. Despite not performing in the movie, filmed shortly after the Broadway Production ended, Porretta reprised his role as Count Ludovic for
Passion - Original Broadway Cast Recording, which won the Best Musical Theater Album at
37th Annual Grammy Awards. Since 2010, Porretta has been doing the voice acting for the titular character of the psychological action thriller video game franchise
Alan Wake by
Remedy Entertainment. He returned in 2012 for ''
Alan Wake's American Nightmare and in 2023 for Alan Wake II as well as for a DLC Chapter from Dead by Daylight'', released in 2024. He also portrayed Dr. Casper Darling in Remedy's
Control and Marco Graziani in
Starfield. ==Personal life==